Soul Dream
by VBehnke
Summary: Hobbits are born with soul mates. Bilbo just seems to have a rather different one. He goes on a journey with thirteen Dwarves and a Wizard to find him. Bilbo/Smaug (Human form) SLASH


It is known by most in Middle-earth that Hobbits are a race of small people living in a peaceful area known as the Shire. They live in homes built under the green hills. Although people know about Hobbits, not many have actually seen one, as they tend to stay in the Shire. But there are many things that they do not know about these small people. Such as one little fact that Hobbits have soul mates. One person who they are destined to love. When they have adulthood they get a dream, where they see who their mates are.

In most cases the mates are hobbits as well, but that is not always the case. Some Hobbits have Dwarves, Elves, or men as mates. In these cases, the Hobbits live the same lengths as their mates would. In these cases the Hobbits also age at the same rate as their mates.

Sometimes the Hobbit can stay a child for longer than the parents are alive, such as when they have an elf for a mate. In these cases the children who age extremely are sometimes passed onto their brothers and sisters or even nieces and nephews to be raised by them if their parents die. It is a normal ideal for hobbits, family is everything. You never abandon a family member in need.

That is almost the case for Bilbo Baggins. Yet he aged slower than any hobbit ever has before and no one was able to figure out what his species mate was. He had to be passed on for many generations, when normally it would only last one of two generations. The last relatives that he lived with at one point was Bungo Baggins and his wife Belladonna. He was happy with them.

Of course living with a Took was interesting to say the least. She would always take Bilbo on trips in the woods, teaching him how to hunt and take care of himself if he was ever in a situation that called for that knowledge.

At one point Bungo attempted to get her to stop as no Baggins would ever leave the Shire and the knowledge was rather useless for a proper Hobbit. The resulting smack to the back of his head and the firm lecture from his mate knocked some sense into his head. He had never really thought about what Bilbo's slow ageing truthfully meant. His mate would not be a Hobbit, and Bilbo would have to leave after he got his Dream to find his soul mate.

After that Belladonna started to teach him as much as she knew about fighting with weapons, including swords, knives, hand-to-hand fighting, and how to use a bow and arrow. He grew in ability until he was able to beat Belladonna during every spar. She was so proud that she took Bilbo to the elves for the first time to see if they would make him a new set of weapons. While they were their Bilbo became fast friends with Lord Elrond and many of the other elves in Rivendell.

Belladonna was extremely grateful that he had made friends with the elves, that way he would never have to suffer the loneliness of everyone he cares for getting older and dying while he remained forever the same.

It was not something that she would wish on anyone, least of all Bilbo.

During the few weeks that they stayed in Rivendell Bilbo was taught more advanced fighting styles by a couple of the elves, who were impressed by his natural talent. Then he got the weapons that were forged by the elves. He found that they were absolutely perfect for him and fit his fighting style. The sword was small, almost half the length of a normal sword used by an elf, and the daggers tiny as well, but they suited him perfectly all the same. They were light weight, but were extremely durable and never dulled even with the daily practices and spars with Belladonna. The weapons were made with speed and flexibility in mind, allowing for quick and silent attacks. They also made him a beautiful bow with a large quantity of freshly fletched arrows.

When the time came for them to leave, they all wished that they could stay longer to learn and spend more time with friends, but neither Belladonna or Bilbo wanted to leave Bungo alone for any longer. So they made their way back, and all was normal.

…Until the wargs came…

They came during winter, when the food supply in the forest were low. First they prowled along the outskirts of the shire, eying the Hobbits that wandered away from their homes. Then they came closer and closer until the day came that they flooded the shire killing all they could. When the Hobbit barred themselves into their houses, the wages dug into the hills above their homes and came through the ceilings of the sacred and defenceless Hobbits that lived there. Men, Women, and Children were all killed.

During one of the attacks that came directly before spring, Belladonna saw a small Hobbit lad being stalked by a large warg. She ran at the warg, distracting it while Bilbo grabbed the boy and ran him into their home. Belladonna was killed that day. That was the final attack by the wargs that year, but the damage and casualties were horrible especially for a race of such peaceful people.

After her death Bungo was a mere shadow of who he used to be, he rarely talked and only ate when Bilbo forced him to. Bungo soon followed his mate to the other side, leaving bag end and all other possessions to Bilbo as they never had any children of their own.

The elders, who were actually younger that Bilbo himself, believed that he was close enough to getting his soul dream that he would be able to live by himself until the time came that he found who his mate was.

Bilbo was thankful for that.

During the next fifty years Bilbo remained in bag end pretending to be the normal Hobbit. Of course he was unless you took in account the daily training and the hunting trips where he hunted deer and other game that he traded at the market. Everywhere he went he gained many odd looks, he was used to it but still tried to ignore them.

The fifty years seemed to pass excruciatingly slow, the wait to find out who his soulmate is seemed to drag on and on. Minutes seemed like hours, and hours seemed like years…until finally the day came that he got his dream.

The feeling of getting the soul dream is like coming home from a long journey and smelling the freshly baked cookies as soon as you step in the door. It gave a sense of pure 'home' that Bilbo has always craved, especially after being passed to so many different relatives during his childhood.

At first the dream was a bit disorienting, all Bilbo could see was a thick gray mist the color of the sky before a thunderstorm. Bilbo wasn't able to see anything, but let himself be pulled forward, letting the dream take him wherever he should go. It took quite some time for the force that was dragging him to stop. He knew from all of the stories he was told, that it meant that his soul mate was very far away, and that he would have a long journey to find his mate.

When the pulling finally stopped, Bilbo glanced around hoping to catch even the smallest glimpse of his mate. As he looked around the mist shifted, letting a figure take form in front of him. The figure was tall, about the size of some of the taller elves. As soon as Bilbo could make out the figures outline it was easy to tell that the figure was male. The mist pulled back like a curtain and let Bilbo see his first glimpse of the beautiful male who was his mate.

Bilbo was stunned to say the least, the man before him was beautiful. He had pale, cream colored skin and wavy hair made up of the deepest black Bilbo had ever seen. His eyes were a silver blue that pierced straight into his soul, making him feel warm and comforted. Then a few more of his features shifted into focus, ones that made Bilbo shiver.

The man had large red wings extending from his back, and a large red reptilian tail curled around one of his legs. His pupils were slits like a cats' and he had sharp claws extending from his fingertips. The man had patches of red scales along the exposed skin of his arms and face, and Bilbo knew that they must have extended all along his body. Sadly the mist covered the rest of the scales. He couldn't wait to find all of those spots. The male also had pointed ears, sharper than those of elves, and twin horns nestled in the black curls upon his head. Oddly enough none of these strange features made the man appeal any less to Bilbo, perhaps they even enhanced it.

Bilbo gave a small moan of panic when he saw the mist starting to cover the image of his mate before him. He didn't want him to leave. The small sound shifted into a sound of wonder and a little bit of panic when the mist further back thinned enough to see what was hidden there. A large reptilian body of a dragon with red scales and gold eyes. Before he was able to study the creature in front of him Bilbo was dragged backwards by the same force that pulled him through the mist.

Only to wake up panting in his bed. Bilbo tried to get more sleep that night but his mind was plagued with the image of his mate.

The next few weeks Bilbo spent attempting to figure out how to find his mate. The answer came in the most peculiar way.

Bilbo was sitting on the bench outside of his house enjoying the wonderful morning and a nice pipe full of his finest pipeweed. His eyes were closed, savoring the feel of the sun on his skin. Only to snap them open when the warmth was stopped. It was clear to Bilbo what had happened when he saw the old wizard standing in front of him blocking out the sun.

"Good morning, what may I help you with?" Bilbo asked the wizard, not knowing what he wanted.

"Hmm? Oh me, I am Gandalf."

"Yes, I know. You knew Belladonna and Bungo. Correct?" Seeing the wizard nod he continued. "May I ask why you are here?"

"I am simply surprised that you recognized me." The man gave a chuckle, not really paying attention to the questions he was asked.

"What is it that you wanted?" Bilbo asked before taking a deep pull from pipe.

"Ah, yes! I had almost forgotten. Do you happen to know of any Hobbits looking for an adventure?" That perked Bilbo up quickly enough.

"There are not many Hobbits looking to leave the Shire. May I ask what 'type' of adventure you are talking about?"

"No problem at all Bilbo. I have decided to help a group of Dwarves reclaim their home." Purposefully being vague. "They will be here by supper, make sure to have enough for thirteen Dwarves." Gandalf swept past a stunned Bilbo and up to his door where he used the end of his staff to carve a ruin into the green door before making his way down the path whistling a tune as he left.

"W-what?" Bilbo muttered to himself as the news sunk in. _Dwarves? Reclaiming their homes? What did they need to reclaim it from? _

The Hobbit sat back on the bench, when what the old man told him sunk in. "Thirteen Dwarves. Dinner." He needed to get to the market and get more food now. He only had a few hours to make a feast. Bilbo leapt off of the bench and raced to the market.

He wound up having a couple of the children help him bring all of the food up to his house. He gave each of them a few cookies for the help they gave him. Then he started the food.

By the time the sun was just hiding behind the horizon his table was filled with the best food he could make.

He was just wiping his hands when he heard a knock on the door. He made his way there and opened it up, letting the huge Dwarf into his home.

"Dwalin, at your service." The Dwarf gave a small bow.

"Bilbo Baggins, at yours" He replied. "The food is done, but you might want to wait for the others to come before we start. You can put your weapons in there." He motioned to a crate he had put near the door. The Dwarf gave a gruff scoff, but set all of his weapons into the wooden crate. Before following him into the living room. They sat in rather uncomfortable silence until there was another knock on the door.

When he opened the door there was a rather large dwarf with white hair. "Balin, at your service."

"Bilbo, at yours." He gave the instinctual reply.

_This is going to be a really long night. _


End file.
